Write a Commentary of ‘(Love Song, with Two Goldfish)’ by Grace Chua

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This poem by Grace Chua narrates of a love story between two people by drawing comparisons between men and fish. The poem’s main theme of confinement is developed through the use of parentheses and it’s description of the relationship between the two main characters is created through the use of personification, anthropomorphism and symbolism. Another important feature of this poem is the visual imagery and figurative language, that help the readers imagine this story more vividly. In this poem Chua uses symbolism to create a parallel between fish and people that have a clearly human relationship. The poet also uses techniques like similes, personification and anthropomorphism to compare the two and stresses these comparisons throughout the whole poem, as an extended metaphor. In the fourth stanza we can find an example of this: “His heart sinks like a fish. He drinks like a stone.”. This simile, strengthened by enjambement, is a play on words, a pun that refers to the saying “sink like a stone” and “drink like a fish”, that don’t make sense anymore once swapped around. This nonsensical simile is used to create in the readers minds the idea that this fish really is a man, and his actions show it too. The poet uses this pun to make us laugh about the similarities between this fish and a man, but at the same time we feel pity for him as we know that if “his heart skins like a” stone he is feeling depressed and heart-broken and if “he drinks like a” fish he must be (like the poem later says) drowning his sorrows in alcohol. Similarly, other puns like these are found in the poem (“she makes kissy lips at him”), that describe the characters flirty human behaviour, showing that the poet also compares the female fish to a human too. The implication that the fish can feel, drink or make kissy lips is also personification that further strengthens the comparison, literally

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